Raising three kids in a hockey-mad family, Carol and Rick Schwartz have always been mindful of keeping life in perspective.

“You work hard, make the best of it, but things can always change,” says Rick, 51. “Don’t make yourself out to be bigger than someone else.”

Helping them instil these values in their two boys, Rylan and Jaden, has been their eldest child. A bright and beautiful girl, Mandi Schwartz, says her dad, taught her brothers the importance of humility, perseverance and “just being a good person.”

A year ago Tuesday, Rick was watching his youngest, Jaden, play on Team Canada at the 2011 IIHF world junior championship in Buffalo, New York, when he received a text message from Mandi. His daughter had been battling cancer for two years, and had recently undergone a cord blood transplant at the University of Washington Medical Centre.

“Doctors say there is nothing more they can do,” was all she wrote in her text message.

Exactly four months later, on April 3, 2011, his precious daughter died.

A year later, Jaden is back at the world juniors, this time as captain of Team Canada, as the team was set to play Russia on Tuesday night in the tournament’s semifinal. As always, his parents are in the stands cheering on their youngest child, now 19 years old and a young man, says his dad, “who makes us very proud.”

In this start of a new year, the Schwartz’s are also striving to rebuild their lives with the help of the people who have never failed them: their family, friends and the Canada-wide hockey community.

They haven’t missed a minute of this 11-day event since it kicked off in Edmonton on Boxing Day. Surrounded at times by up to 40 friends and family as they cheer on Team Canada, the pair describes the experience as something much more than fun and exciting.

“It’s been wonderful to be at the event and we’ve been treated like gold by Hockey Canada,” says the 48-year-old Carol a few hours before the start of the Canada-Russia game.

Carol met her husband of 26 years as a teenager growing up in Kamsack, a town in central Saskatchewan.

“It’s not getting any easier as time goes by, but we’re thankful we have this right now.”

For her soft-spoken husband, it’s been nothing less than a life preserver thrown to a man who struggled to get through his first Christmas in 24 years without Mandi.

“Being a part of the hockey environment has been our saviour,” says Rick as he wipes the tears from his eyes. “I don’t know what we’d do right now if we didn’t have hockey . . . it gives us something to look forward to.”

As it is for so many other families across the country, hockey has been a dominant force in the lives of this small-town Saskatchewan family. Each one of their kids laced up their first pair of skates as toddlers, guaranteeing their parents close to two decades of 5 a.m. car rides and late nights at the local rink.

While their children continued to pursue the sport at a higher level — Rylan, 21, and Jaden play for Colorado College, while Mandi played at Yale University — the Schwartz’s have made sure they weren’t raising one-dimensional people.

They surrounded themselves and their children with “good friends, people you could rely on,” says Carol. They also encouraged their kids to be, as Rick describes it, “good friends to one another.”

It’s such values that helped to make Jaden, a first-round pick of the St. Louis Blues, the kind of leader needed for Team Canada, say his coaches and other observers. Described as a quietly confident young man who exudes grace under pressure, he hasn’t disappointed in this world-class event.

Such qualities, says his mom, come not only from the guidance of his eldest sibling, but also from the loss of that beloved mentor.

“He’s had to grow up very quickly these past few years,” says Carol.

“Every chance she could get on the ice, Mandi was there,” says Rick. “She showed her brothers how to handle things.”

How she handled her terminal prognosis is also something of a marvel for a woman 23 years young. Knowing the end was near, she arranged for a family photo and also made videos of herself for her loved ones to remember her by.

While he and his family were devastated by the life-changing text message one year ago, Mandi, says her father, was at peace.

“I think she found God that day,” he says, noting his daughter had spent some time with her pastor before breaking the news to her family. “She was so strong.”

Carol and Rick Schwartz say that while Mandi is always front and centre in their hearts and minds, they’re confident she would agree with them that this week is one for enjoying the present moment, cheering on their son and his teammates as they fight to bring Canada the World Juniors gold medal.

“Jaden’s been looking forward to this all year,” says Rick of his son who, not long after getting the horrible news about his sister’s prognosis last year, was sidelined after suffering a broken ankle in a game against the Czech Republic. “We can’t fall apart,” says Carol. “We now live in her honour . . . that’s something her brothers have also learned.”

It’s understandable, then, that their pride in their son won’t be tested by the final numbers on the scoreboard.

“A gold medal would be the ultimate,” says Rick, “but these kids will go on to bigger and better things. They’re going to have more challenges in life than this.”

After all, it’s just a game. But for families like the Schwartz’s of Wilcox, Sask., population 250, Canada’s game has given them so much — especially when they needed it most.

Calgary Herald

vfortney@calgaryherald.com

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